Do we like them?

Do we like Ebenezer Scrooge?

A character from A Christmas Carol (1843)

Our score: 8 out of 10. He starts out as a hard man to back. But he gets a second chance and uses it well, so yes, we're with him.

Scrooge runs a prosperous counting house in Victorian London, and he begrudges every penny he spends. When the story opens on Christmas Eve, he is lonely, tight-fisted and sour. He treats his clerk, Bob Cratchit, poorly. He waves away charity, and he turns down his nephew's repeated invitations to Christmas dinner. His answer to the holiday is "Bah! Humbug!"

That night Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Jacob Marley. Marley warns him that a bleak fate awaits if he doesn't change, and says three more spirits will come. They show him scenes from his past, present and future. They make him look at the people he has hurt, and at what his coldness has cost him.

We score him high because of what he does with the chance. Many characters are warned and ignore it. Scrooge listens, and then he acts on what he has learned. His early behavior keeps him from a perfect ten. He is unkind to people who depend on him, and that is hard to wave away.

By Christmas morning he is a new man. He sends the Cratchits a Christmas turkey, joins his nephew's celebration, supports Bob's family and gives to charity. He keeps this up afterwards, so the change lasts. Few redemption arcs in fiction are as complete.